Just inside the entrance to the park we stopped and took some pictures. (Actually we were waiting for others to catch up to us.) We had a Disney photographer take our picture when friends of ours from church walked into the park. (We knew they were also there that week, but didn't formally arrange to spend any time together.) The photographer then took a magic picture with the girls. All five of them held their hands out together, and when I got to see them online there was Tinker Bell standing on their hands. I haven't decided what to purchase yet, but I'll try to remember to post it if I get it. Time was drawing close for breakfast, so we took off across the park. As we're rushing along a cast member calls out "Heading to the Princess breakfast?" "Yes," I call, "Are we going the right way?" "Yeah, just go . . . Are you going on any rides after breakfast?" "Yes, we're planning on being in the park all day." "Oh, then you want to take this bridge. It's a magical short cut." I looked at the bridge indicated, knowing that it was technically out of our way (I memorize maps and directions). We headed across the bridge. In the middle we could see several cast members. I was a little excited "We're going to get dream fast passes!" I thought. We got to the middle, a big cheer went up from the cast members, and we got . . . Dream mouse ears. Yep. Mouse ears. Okay, so now we were a bit late for breakfast, we rushed off. Oh! Before I forget (again), we forgot our autograph books. Yep, the much looked forward to Princess breakfast and we forgot the books. We had our little princess calendars (I found them at Office Max - and we had the princesses sign their "picture". Aurora had looked through them the night before with youngest DD saying things like "Oh, I remember posing for that picture!" "There's my friend, Belle!"), but Mulan wasn't in the calendar. So we had Mulan sign our mouse ears. So how much do you think they'd go for on Ebay?
We arrived at breakfast. The median age of the guests (okay, of the children) was maybe 4. My girls felt a little old. We got inside and they had a formal picture taken with Belle. (Why Belle? We're in "Norway", Belle is French - she's actually one of the princesses whose heritage is known. If there's a Scandinavian princess I would think it's Aurora or Cinderella - after all, they're the blondes. Does every one's clothes just look better with her bright yellow gown?) 
Breakfast was a buffet of pastries and I'm not sure what that was. With a family style dish of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and was there something else? The princesses featured at breakfast were Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine and Mulan. The later meals have Ariel and Cinderella replacing the last two. (I guess because Jasmine and Mulan can be found in their "countries"?)
After breakfast we headed back to the front of the park to meet up with DH and DS. And there were our friends from church! They hadn't been hanging out together, but they had been exploring the same attractions at the same time. We all had Fast Passes for Soarin (we had grabbed them after meeting up and before heading to breakfast), so we opted to hang out together until we could use our Fast Passes. We went to The Seas, did the Nemo attraction and Turtle Talk. The we went Soarin! Our friends had been on it before, so they knew to ask for the front row (that way there's no-ones feet hanging in front of you ruining the effect). The 10 of us filled the entire row. The kids liked it. It's not necessarily my favorite. I'm scared of heights. And the first row is, well, the top row. And when you feel like you're tilting as you soar - that's not an illusion, the rows of seats do tilt. The smellerators - well - I don't know if mine was broken, but instead of smelling something, like oranges, I just got a whiff of chemicals that smelled like, well, chemicals. The ride was okay, but I do not LOVE it. And while I would probably go on it again if we ever go back to Disney, I did not want to get back in line and ride it again and again.
At this point we parted from our friends. The girls and I headed back to the hotel for a break and DH and DS had to rush to keep their lunch reservations at Le Cellier (that I had forgotten about). They gave rave reviews of their lunch and if we ever do Epcot again I want to eat there!
We spent about 2 hours back at the room. Everyone just needed some down time. We'd been rushing all over parks every day and everyone was just tired and cranky. I didn't think I could enjoy Epcot with whiny children. We headed back to Epcot at 6. And by the time we got there my youngest was already whining. Gee, this is going to be a great evening! I checked out the stroller rentals to get prices. I smiled sweetly and asked if they were at all discounted since it was so late in the day. Nope. I pleaded with DH. $15 to save my sanity on our last night in Disney really wasn't too much, was it? He reluctantly agreed. I walked back to the stroller rental - and this is where I got my dream granted. The same cast member saw me and said "Let me take care of you." She rang up the stroller for (drum roll) nothing! "Have a great evening!" It wasn't a dream Fast Pass, it wasn't a night in Cinderella's castle, it wasn't anything that's been advertised, but it was the best dream possible to be granted for me! Youngest DD was thrilled to be able to sit and ride. I was thrilled to be able to ignore any further whinyness, and to have a place to plop my stuff. We took off for a walk around the world.
Epcot is beautiful. The flowers are gorgeous, landscaping is impeccable . . . and at night - well, you can't see any of it. Lighting in the evening is lousy. Our walk around the world was really fast because you can't really see anything. We did point out France to the DC. France is where DH wanted to propose to me. Seventeen years ago on July 3rd, DH (actually DB - or Dear Boyfriend at that time) took me to Epcot my very first time. We didn't spend any time at all in the front of the park, I just remember walking around the worlds. We ate in France. I can remember the waiters walking by and looking expectantly at our table. I excused myself to powder my nose for a long time just in case he wanted to place a ring somewhere on the table. We ate dinner, had dessert, and . . . nothing. Turns out he had planned to propose, but the ring wasn't ready in time. He proposed the next morning as the sun rose over the beach, just a few miles from his parents' home. So we pointed out France to the DC and told them the whole story. (We'll always have France, Dear). 
We ate dinner in Morocco at Restaurant Marrakesh. I checked out menus prior to the trip and figured the DC could handle Shish Kebobs for a meal, and at least experience something a bit more exotic than usual. I warned youngest DD that there wouldn't be chicken nuggets and hamburgers like usual. The children's menu? Chicken nuggets, hamburgers or Moroccan Meatballs over pasta with tomato sauce. The wisest choice of my evening? Mint tea to drink. The poorest choice? Eating in Morocco. It's meals like this that remind me why we don't use cinnamon as a spice for our meat dishes in the US. Yuck. My palate is not ready to deal with cinnamon as anything other than a dessert spice. We did get to enjoy the belly dancers. Okay, one belly dancer. And we were seated against the wall, so we actually got to see her from the back. So we saw dancing, but not much belly. I don't feel that I experienced much for my last day, so Epcot is one park that I would like to spend a couple of days in again - without the DC!
1 comment:
oh no! Your last day in Epcot was about as fun as mine...except you enjoyed Soarin' way more than I did. I'm sorry it was a lousy day!
I think Disney would make TONS more money in Epcot if they just had a Cracker Barrel! And I'm not kidding!
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